Mr. Drew Harris:

We are at approximately 14,200 members at this moment and we have sanction to recruit another 800 this year. Against that 800, obviously, there is a training time and a lag time before they go out onto the ground but, at the same time, we expect 350 to 400 cessations in any year. As with any big organisation, as we try to recruit people, other individuals leave. We still have a target of 15,000 members and 4,000 Garda staff. We are a big employer but Covid has not helped us in that although our Garda staff numbers grew, difficulties relating to training meant that we pretty much marked time, by and large, in respect of our Garda members. We are now again into a time of expansion, and it will probably be early 2024 before we achieve the figure of 15,000.